News for the Young Punjab!

SYL : Punjab, Haryana leaders to meet President on Monday

The political delegations from both Haryana and Punjab will meet President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan on November 28 and urge his intervention into the ongoing Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal project dispute.

As per separate statements issued by both state governments, the delegations of both states have been given the same time – November 28 at 6.15 pm, for the meeting.

The move by leaders from both states follows the recent verdict of the Supreme Court which said that the Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act, 2004, was in violation of constitutional provisions.

“Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will call on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan at 6.15 pm on Monday, to draw his attention to the grave injustice being done to Punjab through brazen violation of the universally accepted riparian principle on river waters issue,” a spokesman for the Punjab chief minister said on Saturday.

He said that the delegation will “stress the need for resolving the river waters issue strictly as per the riparian principle which had been adopted in all similar disputes in the country in which a state through which a river does not pass has no right on the waters of that river”.

“In the case of Punjab, neither Sutlej nor Ravi and Beas pass through Haryana and Rajasthan, and therefore, those states cannot claim a share on the waters of these rivers as a matter of right,” he added.

The Punjab government had earlier declared that it will neither accept the Supreme Court verdict nor implement it. It said that Punjab did not have a single drop of water to spare for other states.

Talking to the mediapersons in New Delhi on Saturday, Khattar said an all-party meeting was held under his chairmanship at Chandigarh earlier this week and it was unanimously decided to call on the President on the SYL issue.